


With Certainty

by Acrylic_Nightmares



Category: BakuDeku - Fandom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: All the squads, Bakusquad, Dekusquad, F/F, F/M, Field trips, I had some assistance with little pieces and what not because my friends and I are fucking nerds, Iida is a good friend, M/M, Sassy Ochako when it comes to Bakugou, Sassy Todoroki, Slow Burn Ish, Sorry I just love them all, TodoDekuBaku if you squint but like love triangle type, depends on the ship?, happy fun times where the kids get to be normal kids, in this house we love and respect bakugou katsuki, it just evolved, its got angst, ships kinda have a bit of a slow burn and some dont, some bnha hero stuff as always, some cute coffee shop scenes because some of the kids work there, todoroki pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-07-08 19:20:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15936665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acrylic_Nightmares/pseuds/Acrylic_Nightmares
Summary: A coffee shop AU that evolved into a dump of ideas and skits from the minds of my friends and I and I think this is really cute. It's slowly evolved into an actual plot so strap in boys who knows where this is going.....------------------All of his life Izuku Midoriya has been sure of one thing. It's name was Katsuki Bakugou. Whether he was sure Bakugou would yell, scream, start a fight... it didn't matter. Bakugou was his constant and nothing seemed to ever change. Until It does. Not all at once but slowly, and suddenly there isn't much Midoriya is sure of any longer.





	1. Intro

The harsh sound of his alarm made Izuku Midoriya wish he was dead. Or maybe it would be a better statement that he wished his phone would simply die and let him sleep in peace. Sadly, neither thing would happen and the beeping of his phone continued until he reached out with closed eyes to hopefully slap the area on the screen where the stop button would be. The beeping stopped and Midoriya opened his eyes grudgingly. He still wasn’t used to the early mornings, and he wasn’t sure he ever really would be if he was being honest. It had been almost a month since he started working at the little UA coffee shop around the corner, surely if it was possible to get used to waking up at four in the morning he would have by now. Uraraka just made it seem so easy, though she was perhaps a tad more driven with this job than Midoriya was… or she didn’t stay up late hastily jotting down hero notes in a worn out notebook. 

Groaning Midoriya double checked the time on his phone, he definitely really did have to get up. He dropped his phone on his pillow by his head and rubbed his eyes before throwing a leg up to toss the blanket off of himself as if it was going to convince his body it was time to get moving or make the action of it easier. It didn’t. Slowly Midoriya sat up, cracked his neck and debated just sleeping five more minutes… but the last time he had done that Uraraka had come knocking on his door and that was terrifying. Never again was Midoriya ever late waking up.  
Speaking of never being late, Midoriya thought to himself as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and finally stood up groggily walking to his dresser and pulling out some clothes thankful they didn’t really have a uniform besides a blue apron and a white visor that he just left in his little cubby at work anyway. It was a lot less to work about so early. 

After finally getting dressed and stuffing his phone into his pocket he walked out into the hallway, he should really eat breakfast he knew, he just wasn’t hungry yet. So just coffee it was before he would brush his teeth and march off to where the cafe was. Midoriya yawned and rubbed at his eyes one more time as he made his way to the kitchen in the dorms.  
The lighting shift from his All Might covered room to the hall left him squinting and mentally wishing a horrible end for the fluorescent lights of the hall. In fact it also didn’t help that the hall was white walled, he also cursed whoever had thought that was a good idea. 

The kitchen area was right next to the lobby they had. It almost did look like home and at this point, at least to Midoriya, it really was. There was a million things in these two rooms that proved the students really did live there. The chip at the corner of the coffee table was from when they were playing Mario Kart and Midoriya had blue shelled Bakugou right before the finish line on the third lap only to pass him and cross first. The controller had also met a bitter end. The couch’s middle cushion was sunk in from when Kirishima, Kaminari, and Mina had been jumping on it while scream singing along to High School Musical 2’s Bet On It and Kirishima had landed just a bit too hard right in the middle and broke a spring. 

Midoriya smiled softly to himself and shook his head, what a wild group. Moving his attention from the common area to the small kitchen area he walked over to a white cabinet. He opened it and only glanced over the wide range of colored mugs as each student had their own. Gripping the All Might mug in his hands Midoriya started his coffee and leaned against the counter, letting his eyes close… but just for a moment he promised himself. Only a moment… 

Five minutes later the timer went off making Midoriya jump and sigh at himself was he really so tired he fell asleep standing up leaning on the counter? He grabbed the mug now filled with coffee and sat at the small kitchen island that had stools by it in the kitchen. He sipped absentmindedly at his almost too hot coffee, wincing every time it hurt his tongue and scrolled on his phone, he had about fifteen minutes before he had to be on his way for sure. 

The sound of a door closing somewhere barely caught Midoriya's attention, after all Iida was always an early riser and Midoriya knew for a fact Todoroki went on early morning runs and also worked this morning with him. Kirishima also got up early and went on runs on occasion, depended on whether or not they had done combat training that week and how much of it. The person who walked into the kitchen though was none of the three Midoriya had assumed,it was actually Bakugou. Slouched forward and looking exhausted, Bakugou barely grunted when he passed Midoriya who simply turned his attention back to his phone, it was best if he didn’t say anything in case Bakugou was in… one of his moods. Especially this early in the morning even though he had a million questions as to why Bakugou was awake. 

“Deku.” Bakugou snapped shortly, his voice cracked slightly due to not being used yet that morning. Without looking up from his phone Midoriya simply responded with a good morning assuming maybe Bakugou had just realised he was there. He had assumed wrong. 

“No.” Bakugou growled shortly turning to face Midoriya abruptly causing the smaller boy to jump and put his hands flat on the counter surface to catch himself from falling off the stool he was seated on. Bakugou was squinting and pointing at the All Might mug in front of Midoriya, “That one’s mine.” 

Midoriya scowled confused and shook his head causing some hair to fall in his eyes which he quickly pushed back after resituating himself on the stool, “Uh… no? I definitely am the one with the All Might mug.” 

Bakugou huffed loudly looking annoyed and turning on his heel and reaching into the cupboard he had been rummaging through when Midoriya hadn’t been paying attention to him. He seemed to find what he was looking for almost immediately and turned back to Midoriya holding an All Might mug in his hands identical to the one Midoriya had in front of him. “Oh yeah fucker? Wanna bet?” Bakugou twisted his wrist and showed Midoriya the bottom of the mug. There in black ink were the letters IM. Izuku Midoriya. 

Midoriya gasped softly and lifted the mug in his hand above his head and sure enough KB, Katsuki Bakugou. That and the side of the cup had a chip in it… definitely not his.  
“Oh! Ah um, sorry Kaachan! I didn’t know we had the same one, if I had known I would have picked a different one to leave in the cupboard so we wouldn’t mix them up because I know you can be particular about your stuff! I guess I didn’t even think about it because it’s so early and I didn’t get to sleep on time because-” 

Bakugou had already zoned out. How easy it was to make the smaller boy go off on a tangent. Luckily though by this point Bakugou had taught his ears to push the rambling and muttering into white noise, it prevented him from getting annoyed whenever Midoriya went on particularly long. Bakugou ignored Midoriya while he filled up Midoriya’s mug in his hands with what he wanted and went over to sit down in one of the stools. For some reason though his ears tuned back into Midoriya’s rambling. 

“Oi, shut the fuck up for one goddamn second will you?” 

Midoriya clamped his mouth shut mid sentence and blinked at Bakugou, just now noticing the fact that the explosive boy was using Midoriya’s mug. Bakugou let the small blip of silence linger before he sighed and spoke again squirming slightly under Midoriya’s stare, “Just don’t let it fucking happen again. Pay attention when you do things, Deku.”

Midoriya raised his eyebrows but nodded quickly, “R-right!” 

Bakugou scoffed softly before looking away from the smaller boy who hopped off the stool he had been seated on, “I have to go, but I’ll see you later Kaachan.”  
Bakugou opened his mouth to respond and probably say something rude, he himself wasn’t sure at the moment, but Midoriya had already bounced off down the hallway. Fucking nerd. 

 

 

“Midoriya you cut it close today.” Todoroki muttered as Midoriya ran past him and into the back, a small blur of green. “Ah, I know! I left the dorms later than usual.”  
Midoriya had used One for All to make it here on time after the small run in with Bakugou in the kitchen, he had rambled on for too long and almost made himself late. Todoroki tilted his head to the side at the excuse he was given, watching Midoriya toss his backpack into his cubby and grab his apron and the little visor and put them on, “Any particular reason?” 

“Oh, uh… no.” Midoriya’s face turned red immediately thinking of the mug mishap and Bakugou’s surprisingly quiet reaction. He shook his head to clear it though it matched the response so he prayed Todoroki wouldn’t pick up on the fact that the two were unrelated. 

“You are feeling well, right?” Midoriya spun around to blink at Todoroki confused, had he really picked up on something, especially something so small? Usually he was so clueless as to social cues Midoriya had nothing to worry about, but had Todoroki actually started picking up on things? Because if that was the case Midoriya was screwed. He opted for playing innocent to throw off his friend even if he had caught something, “I’m sorry what?” 

Todoroki shrugged, “Your face was red for a moment, thought maybe you were finally getting sick from overworking yourself. Just checking.” Todoroki turned from Midoriya and went back to what he had been doing, which was stocking chocolates for the drinks. Midoriya sighed quietly to himself in relief and started working on opening the store. 

 

It was a slow morning. Only a couple students had stopped in and Midoriya and Todoroki had very little to do, so they idled behind the counter. Midoriya had wandered out around the counter to look for anything that needed to be picked up or cleaned. Then a small bell rang and signified someone had entered the store. Midoriya glanced and saw a small group of his own classmates and scuttled back behind the counter, but Todoroki was already prepared at the register.

“I can take these ones, Todoroki.” He said, smiling and gesturing at the register.

He quirked an eyebrow back at him. “You sure?” He asked.

“Yeah, of course!” Midoriya ensured, he knew Todoroki didn’t much like handling the register. Midoriya could take the interaction more frequently. They traded places and Todoroki got ready to make the incoming orders.

The first up to the counter was Ashido, followed closely by Kaminari, who both greeted him cheerily, if not a little sleepily. They both then stared, squinting at the menus behind Midoriya, making two others, Kirishima and Sero, creep forward, say good morning, and make their orders. Midoriya wrote them down on cups, made a scribble of each of their names near the tops, and slid them down the counter for Todoroki to pick up and begin. He took their payments and did all the same for Ashido and Kaminari once they’d decided, and while doing so, he didn’t fail to notice Kacchan lurking behind them. He was surprised when the blonde approached the counter after the others.

“Hi, Kacchan, are you ordering something too?” Midoriya asked carefully.

“M’not standing here just to fucking say hello.” He grumbled, still just as oddly quiet as he’d been earlier.

“Ah! Okay, I’m sorry. Just,” Midoriya’s eyes shifted around, wondering if he should even say anything else. Earlier with Kacchan had already been so strange. “I just know you already had coffee this morning, so I hope you don’t have too much caffeine, it can be bad for your-”

“I know what the hell I’m doing, Deku.” Bakugou snapped back, but for some reason, there was less of an edge to his voice. “Caramel frapp.”

It took a second for Midoriya’s brain to process and he stood there for a moment, eyes wide, before he sprung back. “Oh! What size?”

Midoriya finished the order, Bakugou paid and walked away to rejoin his group. Deku picked up his cup to write the name on it, Kacchan. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind it like that. He doodled a little starburst explosion next to the name and giggled a little to himself, pretty cutesy for Kacchan. He indulged himself by beginning on Bakugou’s order himself while Todoroki was still busy with another. When he was finished, he brought it to the opposite counter where the group was standing.

“Kacchan.” Midoriya called, holding the drink out to him with a straw. Bakugou stepped up to grab them from him, making a couple moments of quiet eye contact as their hands incidentally brushed together.

“What!” Kaminari shouted from behind Bakugou, who pulled his hand back with his drink. “You ordered after me! C’mon, Midoriya, is this favoritism?”

Midoriya grinned apologetically, “Sorry, I’ll get started on yours now.” Midoriya turned away, hoping again to hide the redness on his face from Todoroki.

Bakugou only noticed the name on his cup as they were all leaving. His cheek almost twitched into a grin, almost.


	2. New Friendship

Bakugou followed along behind Mina as they exited the coffee shop, letting the glass door slam shut. He wasn’t sure why he had even let them drag him out of the dorms this early, he supposed it was probably because somewhere deep down he knew they really would have won in the end anyway and giving in rather than spending all of the energy it always took to convince them to let him be was easier. He was aware of Mina and Denki talking loudly in their own excited manner in front of him as he walked slightly behind the rest of the group. Usually he walked in the front and lead the cause, whatever it might have been at the time, but it was early and the others had far too much energy for him to even want to deal with it. So he wandered along slightly behind sipping the coffee he had gotten with the others and listening to his own combat boots slapping slightly against the concrete due to his slightly heavier steps. Though he supposed you couldn’t really walk ‘quietly’ in combat boots. Not that he actually ever cared. 

Bakugou supposed he probably should be listening to where they are actually going before class today but he couldn’t bring himself to focus on it yet. Instead he simply stuffed his free hand into the pocket on the front of his hoodie and made sure his phone and wallet were still in there while he took in their surroundings. The streets were mostly empty except for older people who seemed to have places to be and a few people walking dogs and such on the sidewalk on the other side of the road to his right. The street lamps were still on slightly because the sun had just started rising an hour ago which had lit the sky in a multi-colored blend. He supposed most people would call it pretty but he wouldn’t go as far to say a weird blend of dark blue, light blue and orange was per say ‘pretty’. Sunsets were better any day anyway. 

“What do you think Bakugou?” 

He snapped back into reality for a moment and blinked at the group who had all stopped walking to look at him. Bakugou scoffed softly and took another drink of the coffee in his hand before shrugging, “I wasn’t even listening to you fuckers, why does it matter what the fuck I have to say?” 

Kirishima sighed, “Because we were asking you your opinion on where we went? Duh, dude… what’s got you so zoned out today?” 

Bakugou rolled his eyes as Mina giggled at the retort Kirishima had sent his way. “Oh shut it. Maybe I’m just tired from being pulled out of the dorms this fucking early in the morning. We still have school soon dipshits.” Bakugou snapped slightly. 

Sero rolled his eyes softly, “Well you could have just said that you think we should go back and get ready for school in the first place.” 

“Okay,” Mina started taping a pink finger to her chin and looking off to the side slightly as if she was contemplating something, “But if he had we would know for sure we had brought a clone along with us this morning and not the REAL Bakugou. So I guess that’s our reassurance. I was questioning it a little when he was almost civil with Midoriya.”  
Bakugou scowled, his nose scrunching up to what he hoped look like disgust and not discomfort at the statement, “Oh fuck off Pinky.” 

Kaminari laughed softly at Bakugou’s response and make a circular motion with his finger, “Alright turn it around boys we are headed home by vulgar declaration from the group menace.” 

The statement earned Denki a very pointed look which of course was immediately brushed off. 

“God why in the fuck do I let you guys be around me?”

 

 

“Are you two almost ready?” Iida asked to the empty coffee shop. The chairs had all been pushed in and Todoroki emerged from the back room, setting the keys to the shop down on the counter for whoever would be closing that night. The shop was mostly empty except for a few random people hunched over laptops with coffee probably working on things. 

“Midoriya isn’t.” Todoroki gave the short reply while walking towards Iida. He already had his backpack on and was shuffling his hand around in his pockets to make sure he had everything else that wouldn’t have been put in his backpack. “He’s still in the back.” 

Iida nodded softly, “That’s alright we still have time before we would be almost late.” 

Todoroki scoffed softly under his breath with the smallest slight smile tugging at his lips Iida almost was sure he was imagining if he didn’t know better, “To you almost late is fifteen minutes before we are even supposed to be there.” 

“As true as that may be, I find it important to be early and prepared for whatever Aizawa has for us to do today and since it’s a mostly physical training day it’s slightly more important because we have to change and stretch and prepare ourselves.” 

“I know.” 

The two fell into a soft, comfortable silence while they waited for a moment. They really didn’t have to wait much longer because Midoriya came jogging out of the backroom with his bright yellow backpack slapping against his back softly, “Sorry! I couldn’t find my water bottle. I must have left it back at the dorms. But…” Midoriya broke eye contact with Iida and looked off to the side guiltily. 

“Midoriya?” Todoroki prompted softly. Midoriya sighed and let his shoulder slump as he looked back at his two taller friends.  
“I also left my Hero uniform at home as well.” 

Iida sighed softly, “Midoriya those are important things to remember, especially for today.” 

Midoriya nodded knowingly waving his hands in front of himself as if it were a wall of defense between him and Iida’s slightly parental disappointment, “I know! I really do… It’s just I had a strange thing happen this morning and I was distracted and really just spaced it out. It’s okay though I have enough time to get it and still be early enough to change.” 

Iida sighed and Todoroki chuckled at it under his breath, “Yeah but not twenty minutes early minimum.” 

Iida shot Todoroki a slightly disapproving look, “How many times do I have to tell you I just like to be early and prepared?” 

“As many as you would like. I’m not sure it will make a difference to me.” 

Iida sighed softly in defeat while Midoriya tried to conceal his laughter with a hand over his mouth. Todoroki glanced at Midoriya softly, fondness flashing in his eyes, even if he only allowed it for a moment. The three friends began their walk to the school grounds and Midoriya walked with the two boys for as long as he could before he needed to split off to head towards the dorms again to grab his things. He waved to both Iida and Todoroki as he jogged off. 

Alright I need to grab my uniform, my water bottle…. Make sure my phone is charged, I have all my other school supplies am I forgetting anything else? 

As Midoriya was making his mental checklist he was bouncing up the stairs, the only problem with that was he was only looking down at the stairs making sure his feet made contact with the surface of the steps. He was so concentrated he didn’t even notice the fact that he was about to run into someone until it happened. His head made contact with a hard surface and his mumbling stopped immediately, that being said he hadn’t even notice he had been mumbling. 

“Hey nerd what the fuck. Watch where you are going for fucking once.” 

Midoriya’s face flushed right before his cheeks began to burn. He backed up enough to look up at Bakugou with nervous eyes, “Oh! Sorry Kaachan! I wasn’t paying attention…” Bakugou interjected a smart retort that made Midoriya sure this morning’s strange interaction earlier was really just a coincidence and that maybe not much had changed after all, “Fucking obviously. Dumbass.” Bakugou’s eyes rolled for emphasis and Midoriya let out his breath in a huff his nervousness fading away with the strange familiarity with the hostility that Bakugou was back to showing him. 

“Yeah? Well how come you didn’t see me either then?” 

Bakugou’s eyes widened slightly at the statement but he quickly recovered, “Maybe because I was expecting that other people understood the fact that they watch where they are fucking going.” 

Midoriya felt an argument about to happen but deciding he would rather get along that prove his point he let it go. “Alright, well I’m just going to… uh go get my stuff for class.” 

“What were you doing? Don’t you and the bastard and sonic all walk together to class like twenty minutes early like the no life fucks you all are?” 

Midoriya squinted a little at that, he still wasn’t used to this weirdly civil conversation thing he and Bakugou had started having after their fight. It was still weirdly foreign but not at all unwelcome. He just wasn’t sure how long it would last if it would last, after all you never knew how the class hot head would react, “I forgot my water bottle?” 

It came out as more of a question than a statement but that was the last of Midoriya's worries at the moment. Bakugou squinted slightly and then just let out a sigh, “Leave it to you to forget something important like that.” 

Midoriya raised a single eyebrow in question but just decided to let it go.

“Well let’s go get it then.” Bakugou stated shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. 

Midoriya’s jaw went slack at hearing those words come out of Bakugou’s mouth and he was certain his eyes had doubled in size but he was so unprepared for it he could only hyperfocus on the words that had been spoken, “I, You, what?”

Bakugou rolled his eyes and shifted his weight shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants without looking directly at Midoriya, “Well you are the dumbass who forgot it, someone has to make sure you don’t forget it a second time right? Plus I’ve nothing better to do.” 

Midoriya swallowed hard and nodded before moving past Bakugou only for the louder teen to follow along behind him. Did he know why he was so nervous? No, did that make him less nervous? Absolutely not. In fact it made it slightly worse and he was convinced his hands were sweating more than Bakugou’s did on the daily due to his quirk. Midoriya fumbled with his keys for a moment before finally getting it into the keyhole after an almost uncomfortable amount of struggling. Bakugou chuckled softly at the incident under his breath finding amusement in the small struggle, which Midoriya did his best to ignore as he opened the door to expose his almost shrine-like All Might room. Ignoring the slight unease in his own stomach and thoughts Midoriya flipped the lights on and began his search for his water bottle. 

He ignored Bakugou as he fumbled around and did his best to forget the other was even in his room. Bakugou just blinked around the room and swore under his breath. He hadn’t been there when the girls had made everyone show off their rooms so he had no idea this was what Mina had meant when she was talking about it being a little much the day after. He couldn’t look anywhere without some form of All Might merch looking back at him. It reminded him of Midoriya’s room when they were younger before they moved into the dorms. He supposed he really hadn’t expected the nerd to change but one would have thought that after meeting All Might and becoming so close with him the obsession would have died down… leave it to Midoriya to still be the ridiculous fan boy he was despite that. 

Midoriya’s desk was the only thing mostly free of All Might things so it immediately brought more attention to it. Bakugou wandered over closer to it and clicked his tongue in disapproval. The desk was covered in at least three notebooks, some old and one new. Midoriya’s laptop was still open even though it had been so long that the screen saver had shut itself off. Pencils and pens littered the desk surface and spilled over into the waste bin next to it, probably all used up. Bakugou momentarily wondered how many pens Deku went through a day but ended up deciding he didn’t really care and it didn’t really matter to him either way. On top of that mess phone chargers, school papers homework notebooks, and other ripped out and crumpled up notebook pages covered the desk. 

“How the fuck can you even use this shit?” 

Midoriya turned to look at Bakugou and see what he was talking about before sighing, “Well it’s usually not like that. I told you I was up really last night doing stuff. That's the stuff. I just didn’t have time to clean it all up. I was planning to after class.” 

Bakugou hummed in response and Deku turned back to looking for his water bottle, getting down on his knees and checking under the bed. Why the water bottle would be there Bakugou didn’t even want to know or ask. Instead he refocused on the desk. A small blue binding caught his eye. Instinctively his hands slipped out of his pockets and before he knew it he was holding a blue notebook that said Vol. 15. 

“You still do this?”

“Hmm?” Deku turned again and smiled sheeply at Bakugou when he saw what was in his hands, “Oh yeah. Why would I have stopped? The notes are helpful nine times out of ten.” 

Bakugou scoffed softly and opened the notebook, “What do you still sketch out the heroes too or…”  
His words died in his throat as he processed the page that opened before him. The two notebook pages before him were covered in pictures and information about Bakugou himself. A sketch of him in his hero costume (that he would never admit out loud was quite good) hugged the left hand margin of the page. Next to it were notes about his costume and on the other page were facts about his quirk, how it worked, how to apply it in a fight, strategies Deku himself came up with on the matter and so on. Bakugou felt his jaw go slack and his face burn. He knew Deku kept info on heroes but it never ever occurred to him that he could be in one of his notebooks. 

“Kacchan?” Deku turned from looking for his water bottle and saw what Bakugou had found and gasped loudly, running across the wood floor to reach for the notebook to close it, “Ah I didn’t mean for you to find that! I mean of course I think your quirk is super cool there is only good things in there I promise! Kacchan I-” 

Bakugou turned and moved the notebook just out of Deku’s reach as he read what the pages said, “Excuse me? I’m fucking sorry, you think my gauntlets are bulky and awkward?”Bakugou scowled at the slightly smaller boy who looked panicked as he crossed the room to stand in front of Bakugou, which in retrospect may not have been the smartest plan as he was now in range of Bakugou’s explosions. 

Deku screeched softly as his voice cracked and he moved to the other side of Bakugou to try to grab the notebook from him again only for Bakugou to hold it up out of his reach, “Kacchan! Right next to that it says I think they look cool and do serve a really unique and practical purpose! You can’t only get mad at half the sentence!” 

“Oh yeah? Well your costume serves no purpose.” 

Midoriya gasped and scowled in offense to that statement, “Kacchan, my costume is filled with stuff that serves a purpose, there are shock absorbers! My shoes have a kick back mechanism to make the blow easier on my legs and double the damage!” His hands found their way to rest on his hips as he looked defiantly at Bakugou. 

“Fucking nerd of course we wouldn’t know the perks of the costumes. We’ve never worn them before.” Bakugou started with an eye roll. And he was right, they hadn’t. Deku shifted his weight slightly and let his hands drop from his hips as he scowl fell in the same movement, “Oh, that’s… a fair point. Isn’t that against the rules though?” 

Bakugou shrugged and shook his head, “No one has said anything about it. So I’m assuming no. If it was important someone would have told us when we got them.” 

Midoriya thought for a moment, his eyebrows drawing together again briefly as he thought it over, “I mean, yeah probably… but obviously wearing each others uniforms wouldn’t have the same effect because we don’t have the other’s quirk.” 

“As true as that may be that’s not what we are judging here. Because mine is clearly better anyway. And it’s not the same color as my fucking hair.” 

Midoriya rolled his eyes, “Okay, okay. Well… We have to get going to class soon… or we are going to be late and I promised Iida I would make it in a timely manner…”  
Bakugou gave a short nod and grunt for a response before turning to leave the room. “Alright well since you are incompetent you can use my water bottle for today. But you better fucking wash all your nasty nerd germs out of it before you give it back to me tomorrow.” 

Midoriya’s eyebrows raised and he felt his own eyes widening. “Are you sure?” 

Bakugou rolled his eyes and gave Midoriya a pointed look, “Did I fucking stutter?” There was an amused tone to his words that brought a smile to Deku’s face for a moment before he watched Bakugou walk out. Quickly Deku rounded up his things and ran to catch up with Bakugou, as it turned out he wouldn’t be to class when he told Iida he would be. He would be walking in two minutes before class with Bakugou Katsuki.


	3. Deku vs. Kacchan Part 3?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright now we are starting to get into more serious plot. I promise there is really a linear plot even though up to this point it's felt like there wasn't. But there is an end goal I promise just hang in there with me.  
> Updated - I added a bit more to the end to make this flow smoothly into the next Chapter. Bear with me it's coming I promise.

Aizawa took attendance as Midoriya and Bakugou took their seats on the far side of the brightly lit classroom. Everyone else had arrived before them and were seated in the almost unnatural colored wooden desks and Midoriya could feel the gaze of his classmates burning into his skin as he lowered himself to sit in what he assumed was a fake wood desk. How many of them were looking? He wasn’t sure, but god did he not want to find out. It was bad enough he walked in late, it was worse that Bakugou sat right in front of him. The large headpiece Bakugou wore blocked Midoriya’s view a little making him sigh a bit but just accept it, leaning to the right a little to see around him. To watch as Aizawa spoke slouching in the front of the room reading off a sheet of paper in his hands. 

“Today you will be training with All Might as we announced previously, in one on one sparring matches to assess how far you have come compared to the beginning of the year when you had your first one on ones. They will be against the same person.” Aizawa explained not looking up from the attendance sheet as he marked those who were there. 

Deku shifted in his chair and sighed, that left him with Bakugou. Again. Was the universe just wanting them to push the boundaries of their new found friendship? Did it just want Bakugou to go back to hating him? He looked around the room and made eye contact with Ochako who smiled and gave a small wave at him, unaffected by the news. Though of course she’d have no idea what was going on in Deku’s head. Bakugou hadn’t seemed to react either, but he couldn’t see the front of Bakugou’s face so for all he knew Bakugou could be having a visceral reaction looking ready to throw up at a moments notice over the thought. 

Midoriya sighed again turning to look out the window, he didn’t glance out of it often as he usually was paying close attention to everything that had to do with class. He was wanting to prove himself and learn everything he possibly could. The grounds outside the school were pretty enough to look at he supposed. He remembered being younger and looking at the school with wonder. The shape of the building he always thought was odd but the way the windows sparkled made it seem so much more magical to younger Midoriya who dreamed of one day walking it’s halls to become a hero. 

Midoriya blinked and refocused his thoughts on the sight before him, his brain tuning out Aizawa who was still speaking. Some green bushes, sunlight, green grass that looked like it was always cut though Midoriya knew it had to grow at some point even if he never noticed a change. He traced the pathway to the gates with his eyes and looked to the road just outside it. He let out a soft sigh and brought his attention back to what was happening in the rest of the room. Why was it that in childhood everything felt so wondrous and magical? He could see Mina leaned over whispering something to Kaminari who was covering his mouth to keep from snickering and alerting Aizawa. Mina had a shit eating grin on her face and tucked some of her soft pink hair behind her ear. How they were bold enough to take that kind of risk Midoriya didn’t understand though he did appreciate it. May it never be said that those two weren’t bold. 

 

Before he knew it they were all being lead down the halls towards the USJ. The hallway was filled with the loud clacking on shoes on the ground and the occasional squeak of Midoriya’s sneakers. Bakugou had walked ahead to fall into step with Kirishima and the rest of what the class called the Baku-squad. Whatever that meant. He let his mind wander chewing on his bottom lip to keep himself from mumbling when he noticed he had fallen into step with Shinsou. He looked up at the purple haired boy walking next to him. 

“Are you nervous?” Midoriya asked softly to his new friend who gave a small shrug adjusting the mask on his face to hang down around his neck by the long scarf he wore so he could speak and be heard better. 

“Not really. Sure I haven’t fought much but I almost kicked your ass. I think I can take on whoever Mineta had as his replacement.” Shinsou replied not glancing down to meet Midoriya’s gaze. That gave him away to Deku, Shinsou indeed was nervous after all. 

Midoriya took a breath, “Well… I think you’re definitely going to show how far you’ve come. You’ve been working so hard and your quirk is amazing!” He beamed up at the taller boy who gave him just the slightest inkling of a smile across his features and relaxed a bit. 

 

The group turned down a brightly lit hallway that slowly faded to a dark grey as it gradiented to show a small metal door and stepped into the computer room, it was filled with screens displaying what the various cameras around the area saw. The room was dark and Midoriya rubbed at his eyes softly to make them adjust to the change faster the large led screens that lit the room with a blue light. All Might was waiting there for them, it was still taking time for Midoriya and even the rest of the students of UA to get used to All Might without his muscular form, but Midoriya suspected it wasn’t unusual for them not to be used to it yet. 

He was so lost in his own thoughts he hadn’t noticed that the first fight had begun. Shinsou was standing on one side of him and Todoroki was on the other along with Ochako and Iida. 

“I think Jirou is going to win this one. She’s really been working hard lately.” Ochako commented as they watched the screen. Iida nodded and Midoriya zoned the conversation right back out. He needed to focus. He supposed he should pay more attention to his friends but he knew they would understand. 

Sure he and Kacchan had fought many times. He knew how Bakugou operated, but they had both changed so much since then. Bakugou even giving him tips on his swing. He let out a small sigh as he racked his brain for a game plan. To him Kacchan had always been familiar, predictable. He had gotten used to it. But now something was different. 

Kacchan was different. 

His thoughts ran wild. Picturing two different Kacchan’s in his head. One was small, young, loud and demanding attention and respect. Holding himself with the newfound pride in his quirk. Harsh to say the least and put it nicely but still with a broad smile, crimson eyes sparkling. The other Kacchan was the one he knew now. Quiet unless provoked, still loud though when he wanted to be as some things never changed. He held himself upright with the same pride as he had always known, but there was something different in the set of his shoulders. More determined, a little less sure of himself and Midoriya knew why. The loss of All Might’s powers and blaming himself and not thinking he had grown any. If Midoriya was sure it wouldn’t drive Kacchan to violence he would tell him that he didn’t think Kacchan grew as a hero in training either, but rather as a person. He was growing and changing as Katsuki Bakugou rather than the explosive hero he was craving to be known for. That, in Midoriya’s mind, was far more important to him than the hero Bakugou.

Giving up hope on coming up with a viable plan from his brain wandering and becoming unsure if Bakugou would start in the air or on the ground, left hook or right, Midoriya closed his eyes just to clear his head before his fight. He vaguely heard the cheering of his friends and that was the confirmation he needed to know that both the fight was over and Jirou had indeed won. 

“Midoriya vs. Bakugou.” Was called out. 

His eyes snapped open scanning across the room until his green eyes met crimson ones on the far side of the room standing next to his usual group. Bakugou gave a small smirk looking like his usual cocky self as he pushed off the cold grey wall he had been leaning on to walk across the room passing right in front of Deku. 

“Ready to get your ass kicked right fucking straight into next month?” He asked his voice his usual low gruff tone. 

Midoriya smiled unable to help himself as the usual predictability of Bakugou returned, “Absolutely.” 

Bakugou scoffed rolling his eyes and setting his hands on his hips his gauntlets clicking loudly as he moved, “Shithead you aren’t supposed to fucking say yes. That’s not how banter works you absolute cuckhead dumbass.” 

Midoriya chuckled softly following after Bakugou as he stepped out of the room and into the rest of the USJ, “And insults are supposed to make sense Kacchan.” 

 

Bakugou growled at the comment but said nothing more until they reached their starting points. Standing in the street roughly forty feet apart. Midoriya took a moment to take a deep breath moving into a stance with his feet placed balanced underneath himself, his center of gravity perfectly aligned. His shoes scuffed softly on the concrete and he heard the armor he had now over his shoes clink against the hard surface. He lifted his arms up in a defensive position one blocking his midsection and the other closer to his face. He stood slightly angled towards Bakugou to keep him in view even if Bakugou came around from the side. 

Bakugou did almost the same before seeing Deku’s stance and opting for standing up straight. Not wanting to copy him before he changed his stance almost as an afterthought lifting his arm out slightly bending his knees leaning forward and letting his palms crackle. All Might’s voice came over the intercom and called a countdown. 

3…. 

Stay calm Midoriya. Keep your wind ups small and pay closely to counters…. 

2… 

Kacchan has always favored his right side when he swings forward for explosions on his first move. 

1… 

Bakugou’s mouth was upturned into an almost maniacal grin, the bottom of his mask lifting with his cheekbones as his eyes sparkled with the thrill of a fight starting to flow through him. Midoriya mimicked it almost though his expression was a little lighter a little more playful but still excited. He liked this new feeling, of not being afraid of Kacchan and being able to look forward to a good close fight. 

Go. 

Bakugou whipped his arms back setting of explosions to propel himself forward as he jumped off the ground flying for Deku. Midoriya snickered, air attacks it was. Midoriya waited until Bakugou got closer bringing his arm towards Deku swinging it in a downward arc to aim an explosion at him. Midoriya pushed off the ground at the last second, jumping to the side and bracing his shoulder against the ground tucking himself into a roll his feet making contact with the ground again as he watched the explosion aimed at him send debris flying and filled the air with smoke. 

The smoke was always something that had gotten stuck in Midoriya’s lungs and he barely had time to pull his mask up over his mouth before Bakugou was back on him. Moving at him quickly. Midoriya needed more time and using his quirk in his legs he jumped up high into the air. Bakugou practically snarled watching deku go up before blasting after him. 

Midoriya has just enough time to turn in the air and start letting gravity take him back down towards Bakugou. He held back from winding up until he was close and landed a kick to bakugou’s ribs sending the blonde soaring back down into the ground. Bakugou gasped loudly as his breath was knocked out of his lungs and he screamed out in frustration picking himself up as Deku landed his feet barely touching the ground before Bakugou tackled him. He let his entire body slam into Midoriya who shrieked in surprise as he went tumbling back. He grasped at Bakugou’s hands desperately using his own to close them into fists making it impossible for Bakugou to explode at him such close range. 

Bakugou snarled loudly again, “Fuck you!” He yelled pulling his arms back from Deku’s trying to wiggle them away. Midoriya let go of one and not winding up and rather using only his quirk landed a punch to Bakugou’s jaw as Bakugou set off an explosion with his now free hand. 

Smoked covered most of what was happening as the other students watched on edge having no idea who was going to win this fight. 

Midoriya coughed loudly his lungs filling with the smoke as his mask had been blown off leaving him vulnerable to it again. Bakugou laid on the ground a few feet away from Deku the explosion and punch having sent him flying backwards off of him. He quickly recovered though while Midoriya coughed spitting extra saliva out of his mouth to the ground as his body tried to reject the smoke. Bakugou stood up and ran over to Deku landing a kick to his ribs causing Midoriya to groan and roll over as he pushed himself up. He knew he needed to get back from Bakugou and fast.

He turned running in the direction of he city knowing if he restricted the amount of air space Bakugou would have less room to attack him from above making him less vulnerable in the process as well. 

He sprinted down alleyways his brain rushing to come up with a plan as he kicked off the corner of a wall to gain enough speed to slip into another alleyway. He heard Bakugou yelling for him and it only added to his adrenaline. 

“Hey nerd fuckass! Get back here you shitty coward!”

Deku paused leaning down against a wall to catch his breath and touch lightly at his ribs that were 100% heavily bruised. He huffed softly and checked the area around him for Bakugou. No sign of him and the yelling had stopped putting Midoriya on edge. 

He continued moving, low to the ground and fast. His heart was thumping loudly in his ears and he couldn’t help from smiling a little at the numb excitement adrenaline brought to his muscles. 

He rounded a corner and came face to face with Bakugou who grinned, “Found you.” 

Deku’s blood ran cold as Bakugou’s had his gauntlet raised hand in the plug and pulled it. Deku heard himself scream and his feet lifted off the ground. He closed his eyes to keep smoke and sparks from getting in them as he flew back from the alleyway and slammed through a window. The glass shattering and falling around him. He hit the ground and from the sheer velocity he had been moving with, bounced up off the tiled floor and skittered across it until he hit the other wall. 

He coughed again this time trying to coax air back into his lungs as they burned and his shoulder hurt badly, throbbing and feeling terribly off set. Thank god it was only his left shoulder. He pushed himself up with his right hand into a crawling position and pressed his feet to the ground getting up shakily. He was covered in bruises and cuts from being kicked around and from being thrown through a window. He spit a little more as his mouth felt thick with liquid and this time a little bit of blood was mixed into it. 

“You done running yet so I can kick your ass in a one on one?” Bakugou’s voice came from behind Midoriya and he turned, limping a little. He sighed softly and then righted himself completely ignoring the pain in his ribs and motioning for Bakugou to come at him, curling his fingers into a fist. 

Bakugou stayed where he was knowing better. “You think I’m a fucking moron like you. No way.” 

Deku nodded and then moved forward winding up and swinging at Bakugou who stepped out of the way of the swing. He moved his other arm over and slammed the thick gauntlet he wore against Deku’s back causing Deku to fall. Deku recovered quickly and swung his leg up not aiming for Bakugou but for the gauntlet. The metal shattering with the blow and Bakugou cried out in surprise jumping back from Deku setting off a series of explosions towards him. He was covered in sweat and his shoulders ached his wrists feeling ready to give in to the pressure from the explosions pushing him back. 

Midoriya pushed off the ground with his hands not jumping up but instead throwing himself backwards away from the aimed attack. He jumped up to his feet when he was at a safe distance. He was also sweating from both the effort of fighting and the heat from Bakugou’s explosions but he didn’t care. He didn’t care that his body screamed and ached when he moved. He didn’t care that his costume was shredded on his hip and shoulders. He didn’t care that his glove was destroyed or that his belt was hanging on his hips by a thread. 

All he cared about was standing in equal ground with Bakugou. 

Bakugou was breathing heavily, glaring at Deku.  
“Stop smiling! You’re losing you idiot!” He yelled running at Midoriya. Deku nodded knowing full well he was losing. But not as badly this time. In fact they had almost the same amount of damage to them. Bakugou knew his arm now gauntlet free was damaged and his shoulders burned every time he lifted them, his jaw hurt terribly and a dark thick bruise had already formed there. 

Midoriya barely managed to get his legs to move to avoid Bakugou’s next attack and Bakugou collapsed half on top of Midoriya bringing him back to the ground. Both boys were panting and Midoriya looked up at Bakugou’s face. A cocky grin on his lips. His mask had slid a little bit to the side but the black made the brilliant crimson of his eyes more prominent and Deku found himself staring at them not noticing the hand around his neck as he laid under Bakugou. 

“Bakugou wins.” Came over the intercom and Midoriya sighed. His own legs had betrayed him. Of course they would have he hadn’t nearly been working with them as much as his arms they weren’t used to the full use or even being used more than normal. 

Bakugou blinked for a moment before pulling back taking his hand away from Midoriya’s neck and realizing he was close enough to count the flecks of blue in his eyes and the number of freckles on his cheeks. He grunted and stood up getting off of Midoriya. 

“Told you I would fucking win.” He muttered and Midoriya nodded, groaning as he picked himself up and gasping when he legs gave out again. 

Bakugou squinted, “The fuck is wrong with you? We gotta clear out so they can start the next fight.” 

“I know that.” Midoriya sighed trying to get up again but his legs shook and his muscles strained and he collapsed forward catching himself on his hands. 

Bakugou growled low in his throat and walked over to him grabbing Deku by the back of his suit and lifting him up letting his legs dangle. For someone with as much upper body mass as Deku had he was still smaller and a little lighter than Bakugou would have thought. Deku let out a surprised squeak and Bakugou turned him around slinging him over his shoulder. 

“Shut up.” Bakugou muttered even though Midoriya hadn’t had the chance to say anything on the matter quite yet. Midoriya sighed and let his arms hang down limply over Bakugou’s back staring at the ground as Bakugou walked. His hand was on Deku’s lower back and for some silly reason that Midoriya couldn’t figure out it was the only thing he could think about. 

Bakugou carries Deku out of the arena not going back to anyone and just walking Deku to Recovery Girl’s office rather than passing him off to one of Deku’s friends. 

Midoriya cleared his throat finding the prolonged silence while he was being carried awkward, “I uh… you did good today.” 

“Idiot I always do good.” 

“You do.” 

“You kissing my ass or something back there Deku?” Bakugou responded making Midoriya sigh his cheeks heating up slightly at the comment. 

They fell back into silence again and just in time for Bakugou to step into Recovery Girl’s office, “One order of dumbass.” He said instead of greeting her making Recovery Girl glare at him. 

“Set him on the bed. What happened?” 

Midoriya sighed, “Muscle exhaustion from not getting used to using my legs.” 

Recovery Girl sighed, “Of course.” 

Bakugou shifted Deku on his shoulder setting him down on the bed in the room a lot more gently than Deku would have expected. He even lifted Deku’s legs up and set them down. This time letting his legs thump against the plastic covered surface. 

Recovery Girl blinked at Deku for a moment, “No you are going to have to just let this one heal on its own I think. It would serve you right for not preparing your body.” She stated grabbing an IV drip and poking a needle into the back of Midoriya’s hand after discarding the scraps of glove he had left on it. She set the tube and then handed him a water bottle, “Hydrate yourself. Wait till all of the liquid here in the IV drips out and then take some painkillers and suck it up. And you better not think about using your legs without working them out more. Got it?” 

Midoriya nodded, “Yea ma’am.” She turned and left the two boys and Bakugou took his mask off. 

“Told you, you’re an idiot.” 

“Yeah, yeah we know Kacchan.” 

Bakugou sighed and walked over to the door leaving. Deku didn’t bother to ask where he was going or why he was leaving knowing better and thinking he probably was going to change or going back to watch the rest of the fights. 

 

Midoriya kept his head down for the most part the rest of the day, his thighs burned heavily still though he supposed he deserved it. What he couldn’t understand was Bakugou had been nice, had shared his water bottle, had walked him to class, taken him to Recovery Girl.... He was confused to say the least. 

It was a change for sure, but one that he was still getting used to. Though he didn’t mind it in the slightest. If he was being honest he had spent most of class thinking about his interactions with Bakugou that day. He had done it especially when he was looking at his hero notebook he had brought with on accident, the one with Bakugou’s information in it and not his most updated notebook. The drawing he had done was a little outdated by now. Kacchan’s shoulders had become wider since the drawing was done, some slight changes had been made to his suit and Midoriya felt his fingers itch at the thought of adding a page that included Bakugou’s winter uniform. But he couldn’t work on it in class. It was far too risky, anyone could lean over and look at what he was doing. Bakugou could turn around at any moment and see what he was doing and call him out for it. Though it seemed like that wasn’t what the blonde looked forward to doing these days. Midoriya could never read Bakugou well lately and this new addition to their relationship made it almost impossible. 

Instead of working on his homework or adding to his already packed notebook, he ended up zoning out at the back of Bakugou’s head. Why? He couldn’t even figure out himself why. All Midoriya knew was that the soft blonde of Bakugou’s strangely wild hair was a very interesting subject to zone out on. 

Until it wasn’t. 

Bakugou turned around and held out a stack of papers towards Midoriya and that’s when he had realised how long he had been staring at his childhood friend. Midoriya blinked for a moment, taking in the red eyes staring at him but not with hostility only mind annoyance. Bakugou waved the papers in front of Midoriya’s face, “You gonna take em or not nerd?” 

Midoriya jumped a little and grabbed the papers from Bakugou who briskly turned away and back to facing the front of the room. Midoriya took one and passed the rest of the stack back and his face burned a little bit. Way to go Midoriya make it even WEIRDER why don’t you….he thought to himself biting down on his lip to keep himself from mumbling as he turned his attention to the hand out. Today had already been especially long. He had missed most of the class notes, he hadn’t been paying attention, he had been called out by Aizawa twice for zoning out in class and not answering questions when he was directly asked…. It had been a long, weird day. 

When the shuffling of chairs sounded Midoriya snapped out of his trance. Everyone was getting up and gathering up their things. Class was over, the day was over and Midoriya had wasted it doing absolutely nothing. To say he was angry with himself was an understatement. How was he supposed to become the number one hero when he didn’t even pay attention in class? Sighing to himself he shoved his notebook in his backpack and all his other items, quickly turning to look around the room for his friends. He spotted them gathering over by the door, clearly waiting for Midoriya and Ochako waved when they made eye contact. Midoriya passed in front of Bakugou to go over to them and felt eyes on his back as he did so, but that was familiar and for some reason put Midoriya a little more at ease. 

“Hey Deku, have you been feeling okay lately? You seem a little off today. Is everything alright?” Uraraka worried. Midoriya gave a little shrug of his shoulders in response. If he was being honest things were more than alright and he wasn’t sure why he was acting so strangely about it. He should be elated, finally they were getting along but instead it had just left him even more a little bit obsessed with his childhood friend. 

“Yeah, I think it’s just an off day. Don’t worry about me Uraraka!” Deku gave a soft smile and Ochako smiled back leaving Deku relieved. The last thing he wanted to do was worry his friends. He was fine really. It was just an off day. Or at least he would convince himself of it. 

Iida adjusted his glasses, “Well if that’s the case then I guess there is nothing more to do than hope tomorrow you pay more attention. Why were you almost late anyway? You never explained yourself. And you came in with Bakugou…” 

Midoriya swallowed hard, a knot was forming in his throat slightly. He should have known better than to think they wouldn’t ask. Hell the whole class had been looking at them as if they had seen a ghost when they walked in together. Not to mention the reactions when Bakugou’s friends had noticed what water bottle Midoriya had been using. 

“What about me.” The voice right behind Deku was sharp, loud and demanding of attention and none of them had to look to know who it belonged to. Bakugou stood behind Deku, an annoyed expression plastered on his face and tugging at his eyebrows, drawing them down closer to his eyes. His backpack strap was only flung over one shoulder and his uniform was one button far too undone and that’s immediately where Deku’s eyes went. Bakugou’s collar bone was exposed and Deku supposed that was no different from normal with his black tank tops and his hero outfit… but he was just a little too close. 

“We didn’t mean anything by it. You just would rather kill Midoriya than walk him to class.” Todoroki’s voice was sharper than usual, an edge that Midoriya had only heard when Todoroki interacted with Bakugou. There was a strange grudge there that no one really wanted to solve because at least Todoroki would call Bakugou out even though the blonde did nothing but give a loud yell in his own defense. 

Bakugou scoffed, “Bold of you to assume what I would rather do Icy-hot. Seriously don’t you guys have anything fucking better to do than stand in front of the door and gossip about me for fucking once?”  
Uraraka sighed loudly resting her hands on her hips, “You could have just asked us to move like a normal human being Bakugou. But since that’s the nicest way I have ever heard you ask us to move… fine.” 

She reached over and gripped one of Midoriya’s backpack straps and pulled him to the side gently moving him closer to her and Todoroki while Iida stepped out of the way. Bakugou passed through without another word with Kirishima tagging along behind him. Mina gave a smile and a wave and Sero shook his head at Bakugou’s behavior. Kaminari had already left the class with Jirou, had said something about going to Momo’s to study for the next upcoming test. 

Midoriya watched Bakugou’s head disappear down the hall and sighed. This was one big mess and he had to make sure not to mess it up in anyway possible. “Alright well… we should probably get going then huh?” 

Todoroki nodded softly looking down at Midoriya, “Probably.” 

The group had started walking and conversation immediately struck up and changed topics. As much as Midoriya would have liked their input on the Bakugou situation this was far better. They were in the middle of a deep conversation about tactics to make sure that the next time they faced off against certain classmates they would win. Uraraka was passionately ranting about possibly wanting to come up with a new move but not sure how to implement it and Iida was giving her ideas back. Occasionally Midoriya would jump in but for the moment he just wanted to enjoy the comfortable familiarity of his friends and Todoroki who walked by his side as quiet as ever just a comfortable protective presence. 

When the group walked into the dorms they were greeted with chaos. Mina was jumping up and down on the couch in front of the tv in the commons area with Kirishima and Sero sitting next to her and Bakugou was laying on his stomach on the ground. 

“What the hell is going on?” Todoroki asked under his breath and that’s when Midoriya really saw what was on the screen. 

“Mario Kart.” The grin Midoriya couldn’t fight back made itself known and Todoroki looked down at Midoriya with a very confused look. 

“I’m sorry,” Todoroki raised one eyebrow, “What Kart?” 

Midoriya turned with wide eyes to look at his taller friend, “What do you mean? Have you never heard of Mario Kart before?” 

Todoroki shook his head causing his hair to shift slightly as he spoke, “Never.” 

An evil smirk crossed Uraraka’s face, “Well then it looks like we are going to have to play Mario Kart and show you what it is.” Uraraka walked over to where the Baku-squad, as the other kids in the class had dubbed them, minus Kaminari and Jirou and sat down on the ground by Bakugou. 

“What the fuck do you want round face?” Bakugou didn’t turn his attention from the screen. From what Midoriya could gather Bakugou was in first as Peach, Mina was in second as Bowser, and Sero and Kirishima were neck and neck for sixth place. Uraraka sat crossed legged on the floor and rolled her eyes in response to Bakugou. 

“We want to play obviously.” 

“We?” Bakugou turned to look at the rest of the room as he crossed the finish line of the last lap solidifying his place in first. His eyes ended up landing directly on Midoriya and he quickly huffed and turned around, “Why don’t you guys get your own fucking game or something? Why do you have to play on mine when we already fucking are?” 

Uraraka’s face was devoid of any emotion as she spoke and her voice was so deadpan Midoriya couldn’t help but laugh, “Because Bakugou we just love to specifically inconvenience you. Only you. Ever.” 

Bakugou glared at her and Midoriya as he laughed, “Fucking fine, whatever. You can play but I’m still going to crush you all.” 

Todoroki rolled his eyes just enough for Midoriya to see as the rest of the group made their way over to take seats on the couch and the ground in front of it. Midoriya ended up sitting on the couch behind where Bakugou was sitting on the ground and by the time he had thought about how that might possibly not be the greatest idea but all the other seats were taken. 

Bakugou leaned back seeming not concerned at all with the fact that Midoriya’s knees were touching his shoulder blades and started up another race. 

“Alright fuck heads let’s do this.”

Mario Kart went about as well as it could have been expected to go. 

Todoroki picked Toad because of the color scheme and had made everyone, including Bakugou, break into laughter while Todoroki looked confused as to why everyone was laughing at his simple observation. Bakugou had won most of the races until Midoriya got lucky enough to red shell him at the last minute. It had resulted in Bakugou whipping around to yell angrily at Deku while Uraraka had gotten up to shut off the system declaring that it was enough right after floating Bakugou away from Midoriya as a safety precaution. Mina and Kirishima weren’t talking to each other due to a feud for third place that had happened every race and Todoroki had come in last every single time no matter how hard he had tried. 

It had been fun, and a much needed distraction from school if Midoriya was being honest. Momo and the others arrived shortly after they had finished playing and Jirou laughed at the sight of Bakugou floating over to the corner. He was upside down and glaring angrily at Ochako with his arms crossed. 

“Why is Bakugou in time out?” She asked looking over to Uraraka who shrugged smuggly. 

“Punishment for the public menace.” 

Bakugou sighed loudly and got both of their attentions, “I am done. I won’t hit Deku. Now can you fucking put me down round cheeks?” 

Uraraka grinned, “Oh sure thing.” She lifted her hands up to press them together and Bakugou gasped reaching for her hands in a panic. 

“Wait, not while I’m-” 

He hit the floor with a loud thud and Uraraka laughed and moved over my Momo and the other girls who were talking in the kitchen about the upcoming tests. Bakugou groaned and rubbed at his head that had made contact with the floor. Kirishima had laughed softly under his breath and Deku smiled a little and got up offering a hand to Bakugou who smacked it away gently and stood up on his own. 

“I didn’t hurt myself Deku I’m fine.” He said almost like he had intended it to sound angry even though it didn’t come across as such. Deku smiled nonetheless and gave a small shrug. 

Todoroki looked over at them and got up from where he sat on the couch and approached the two. “So are we ever going to hear the story about how you two ended up walking into class nearly late together?” 

Deku blushed softly and sighed, “It’s not a super entertaining story or anything Todoroki.” 

Bakugou scoffed softly, “Why are you so obsessed with knowing anyway Icy Hot? Jealous or some shit?” 

Todoroki glared at Bakugou for a moment and simply didn’t respond causing Bakugou to smirk at the speechless boy. Deku sighed, these two would never get along well and he knew that. They were weirdly too similar, though Todoroki was less obnoxious about everything. Bakugou turned and left the two alone walking over to solve the dispute between Mina and Kirishima yelling about how stupid it was to be so bitter about third place when he had won most of the time which was the only thing worth bragging about and fighting over. 

Deku smiled over at them and rolled his eyes lightly. Todoroki on the other hand turned his attention to Midoriya, “Okay but really what happened? A few weeks ago and Bakugou would have blown your head off. What am I missing?” 

Midoriya shrugged, “Maybe he is just finally accepting some things? I don’t know Todoroki. There’s nothing I can really say that wouldn’t be an invasion of Kacchan’s privacy.” 

Todoroki nodded softly, “You’re a better friend to him than he deserves, you know that right?” 

Deku scowled softly, “I don’t know if I would say that.” He argued quietly making Todoroki raise his eyebrows and open his mouth about to respond when Iida walked over to them. 

“The games are all cleaned up and I recommend you both get something to eat before it gets too late and begin on your homework.” Iida suggested. Midoriya gave a soft nod knowing Iida only meant the best and said it out of concern for his friends. 

He turned away from Todoroki and Iida and walked into the kitchen where the girls were. Jirou was sitting up on the counter top leaning back on her hands softly with one leg crossed over the other. Ochako was standing next to her as well as Momo, while Tsuyu and Hagakure were trying to make something over in the corner on the stovetop. 

“Do you think you’re ready for the test Deku?” Ochako asked upon seeing him enter. Deku nodded. 

“Yeah, I’ve been studying here and there. And it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” He replied a small smile on his face. 

“Nerd.” Jirou said softly meaning it in only an affectionate way and Midoriya knew that so he laughed softly and nodded. 

Tsuyu turned to wave to Midoriya, “We’ve made spaghetti if you would like some.” 

Deku nodded again and walked towards the cupboard where they all kept their dishes opening the cabinet for cups on accident first. He sighed at his own mistake and then paused when he noticed two All Might mugs sitting by each other. One with a green sticky note and one with an orange one, both were clean. Which only meant that Kacchan had cleaned both of them and paid enough attention to tell the difference and label them. 

Midoriya grinned to himself and finally let the cabinet close moving his attentions to the right cupboard this time grabbing his and all of the girls’ dishes for them which earned him thank yous in return. 

He ate quickly, knowing he needed to get to work on his homework and get to sleep soon, as Iida had suggested. He bid the girls goodnight and headed towards his room giving Shinsou a small wave as he passed by him as Shinsou was opening his door which was next to Deku’s. Shinsou gave a small wave back as Midoriya entered his room and started to change. No sooner had he removed his shirt than there was a knock on the door. He sighed and opened it not bothering to look through the peephole in the door. 

Bakugou was standing on the other side with his hands in his pockets. 

“Kacchan?” He asked softly scowling a little confused. Bakugou blinked at him and then sighed almost as if he had forgotten he was the one who had knocked on Deku’s door. 

“I’m just making sure you’re not still hurting from earlier. Didn’t want to ask in front of everyone else.” Bakugou explained not making eye contact with Deku. 

“Oh,” Midoriya started blinking at the blonde boy before him before smiling, “Yeah I’m alright. A little sore but nothing a full night of sleep wouldn’t fix.” He admitted softly. 

Bakugou gave a short nod, “Cool.” He replied shortly. He cleared his throat looking almost awkward before turning to walk away down the hallway. Midoriya watched him go not sure if he should stop him or not, so he didn’t, but he did watch Bakugou turn into the stairwell at the other end of the hall. 

“That… was incredibly awkward.” Aoyama stated having seen the whole exchange as he had been heading for his room on the other side of Deku’s. His words had startled Midoriya who had whipped around to look at him with wide eyes. 

“It wasn’t that bad.” Deku argued softly, not really putting up much of an argument. Aoyama grinned, “Oh sure it wasn't. But I would get dressed fully if you wish to linger in the halls mon ami.” 

Deku blushed a bit and sighed before slipping back into his room and closing the door. That hadn’t been the interaction he had expected, either of them. But he had things to do and sleep to get, especially since he hadn’t slept much the night before.


	4. Todoroki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short too but its setting things up for the next chapter so everything can fall in place.

Midoriya jumped when his phone alarm went off. His neck and back ached something awful and he cursed himself for falling asleep at his desk. He swore softly to himself and slapped his fingers against his phone screen hoping it would hit the orange button to silence the alarm, thankfully it did. He squinted at the time displayed in large white numbers and groaned loudly before rubbing at his eyes. Curse working two days in a row. 

The room was dark except for his phone and desk lamp that was hot from being left on all night.   
He slowly got up from the desk and cracked his neck stretching his arms above his head. He had fallen asleep doing english homework assigned by Present Mic because he had put it off far too long and had gotten stuck towards the end of the assignment. Thankfully though he had managed to finish it before passing out at his desk. He sighed, got dressed, and decided to shower after rather than before the sun rose. While collecting his homework from his desk and putting it in his backpack he accidentally knocked something on his desk over. He sighed and leaned over to pick it up before freezing in place. It was his latest hero notebook but it was open to a certain page he knew he had not added himself. Before him laid two pages covered in rushed drawings and harshly angled words. 

“Kacchan’s handwriting?” Deku whispered to himself picking up the notebook after recognizing it. On the left hand page, formatted how Deku always added to his notebook, was a hurried drawing of Midoriya in his hero outfit. He knew Bakugou would never admit it but he must have paid some attention to Deku because it was incredibly accurate if not scribbly. At the top of the page was his hero name and his real name under it. A sloppily scribbled Izuku Midoriya. 

Deku smiled as he continued reading the brief description and sighed through his nose when he read about his own quirk. He had forgotten how much Bakugou really knew until he saw the words ‘One for All’ written down. It stated his abilities and Deku couldn’t help but grin when it said he was ‘a fucking weirdly intelligent nerd’. 

On the right hand page in the middle of the words was an orange sticky note that read, ‘You’re a hero too you dumb fucking nerd and since you didn’t add yourself to your books I did. You’re fucking welcome.’ 

Deku laughed softly and felt his chest become light while looking at the pages. When had Bakugou have the time to do this? When he was looking for his water bottle the day before? In the bottom right hand corner Bakugou had written his own name for getting credit. Deku closed the book softly, leaving the sticky note in there and slipping it into his yellow backpack as well. He probably shouldn’t ask about it. He decided he would just accept the nice gesture and keep it between them. There was a soft knock on his door and Deku slipped his backpack straps on and grabbed the water bottle he had forgotten to give back to Bakugou and slipped it in the side pocket before opening the door. 

Ochako smiled at him, “Morning Deku! I thought we could walk together since we have the same shift this morning.” 

Midoriya smiled back at her and nodded, “That sounds good to me actually.” 

Ochako then held a hand up, stopping Deku before he could leave his room. “Wait, it’s cold out this morning, I checked the weather. You might want to grab a jacket.” 

Deku nodded and turned back into his room grabbing his coat out of his closet and slipping it on. Ochako started to walk ahead while Deku closed and locked his dorm room door and followed after the shorter girl. 

“So, you never told me how you felt about the upcoming test.” Deku started striking up a conversation as they moved towards the front door. Deku spotted a head of blonde hair out the corner of his eye and glanced towards Bakugou who was leaning against the wall in the kitchen. Deku gave a small wave and smile but didn’t keep his eyes on Bakugou long enough to see his reaction more concerned at the moment with his current conversation. 

“Oh, well if I’m being honest I’m a little nervous. It’s a written test afterall. So like, sure there is no combat section to it but I think that’s the part that is making me nervous. I could study more sure but I feel like my brain is going to explode.” Ochako responded emphasizing her words with hand motions acting out a small explosion with them. 

Deku laughed and nodded, “I know what you mean. Though I’m sure you’ll do great.” He said while opening the doors and stepping out into the cold morning. Ochako had been right. It wasn’t too cold, but the wind added to the lower temperature. Ochako’s hair blew back from her face as well as Midoriya’s bangs as they headed into the wind towards the coffee shop in the grey tinted light of the morning. 

“Says you.” Ochako replied over the wind, “You do great on every written test.” 

Deku sighed softly to himself, “I suppose that’s true but it doesn’t mean you will do poorly just because I might do well.” 

Ochako smiled and nodded, “Oh I know.” She replied softly. 

The two made their way down the sidewalk, the wind tinting both of their cheeks pink. As they approached the shop Ochako dug in her pockets for her store keys before opening the door letting herself and Deku, headed for the back to put their school bags and coats away. Ochako moved faster than Deku, already more awake than the green haired boy and clocked in starting in on the morning work. Midoriya tried to hurry himself but still took his time so he didn’t knock things over as he started opening the store front. 

“Deku? Can you grab me the rainbow sprinkles from the top shelf?” Ochako asked while stocking up more on the chocolate they used for drinks her back turned to him. 

Deku nodded, “Oh sure thing!” He jogged to the back and looking at the back stock shelves, scanning them for the item he was looking for and sighing when he found it. It was too high to reach standing flat footed so he moved closer, bracing his hand against one of the metal shelves and moving up on his tip toes trying to reach it using the shelf for support and stretching his arm up as much as he could. 

He wasn’t even close. 

He heard giggling behind him and saw that Ochako had pulled out her phone the group had gotten her for christmas to film a snapchat video of him trying to reach, though her pinky was held away from the phone to assure that her quirk wouldn’t send it off into the ceiling. Deku jumped trying to get the sprinkles and his fingertips brushed the box giving him a little assurance that he could get it if he tried hard enough.

“Deku, I can just float up there and get it or something you don’t have to-” 

Deku’s feet touched the ground after a second jump but his sneakers slipped on the floor and he fell to the ground with a groan, laying sprawled out on his back unable to catch himself before Ochako could even finish her sentence. She burst into laughter and walked over to him. Deku looked to the phone in her hand staring into the camera looking embarrassed, after all by the end of the day the entirety of class 1-A would probably have seen it. 

“Hey Ochako?” He asked changing his expression to slightly scowl at the camera.

Uraraka giggled and nodded, “Hm?” 

“Fuck you.” Deku muttered, getting up and brushing himself off. 

Ochako gasped and her phone slipped from her hand even though she caught it a second later. The video ended with her gasp and the camera going blurry and she laughed at the playback before posting it to her story. 

“That’s it, you’ve hung out with Bakugou too much lately.” She commented, still laughing softly at the video. She put her phone back in her pocket and touched her hands to her ankles softly floating herself up, grabbing the sprinkles and then releasing herself before walking briskly out of the stockroom. 

If this was an example of how his day was going to go, Midoriya thought to himself, it was going to be a long one. 

 

 

Class time rolled around and before Deku knew it, he was sitting in his desk again. Aizawa was going on about the history of heroes and Midoriya knew he was raising his hand and talking way too much this lesson but he didn’t care. This was something he was well versed in and everyone knew it. Plus he wanted to answer the questions and his hand snapped up almost immediately every time before Aizawa started to get annoyed with Deku’s hand snapping up before he could finish the question. 

Though when the topic switched it was all that needed to be done to get Midoriya to stop talking aloud in class. He tapped his pencil softly against the corner of his desk and Bakugou whipped around grabbing it from him and turning back to face the front. Midoriya gasped in surprise and Bakugou couldn’t help but smirk a little at the surprise. 

“Well… don’t fucking tap it then.” He whispered softly his head turned slightly to the side so Midoriya could hear him better. Deku nodded and held a hand out asking for his pencil back without saying anything. Bakugou sighed and gave it back. 

“I mean it though, knock that shit off fuckhead.” 

Deku smiled softly and nodded again simply setting his pencil down to prevent from tapping it against the fake wood of the desk. Bakugou turned back to face the front fully, but Midoriya could feel eyes on him still. When he turned to check, he found Shinsou looking at him. Midoriya scowled, confused for a moment and opted for a small wave that Shinsou returned with a soft roll of his eyes only further confusing Deku. He’d have to make sure to ask about it later. 

When class let out Midoriya walked over to Ochako and Iida again. “So, test tomorrow huh?” He asked softly. Iida nodded. 

“And you best make sure to get a full night's sleep before hand.” Iida warned gently, only wanting what was best for his friends. Midoriya smiled and nodded back. 

“I know I won’t stay up too late tonight.” He muttered in reply remembering he had fallen asleep at his own desk the night before. 

Todoroki walked over to the group and sighed, “I have to head home this weekend.” He announced. Midoriya raised his eyebrows, “What really? Why?” 

Todoroki sighed, “My mother is allowed to come visit. So we are all getting together without my father.” He explained, “My siblings included.” 

Ochako nodded, “Well at least Endeavor won’t be there? From what I heard you two don’t have a good relationship.” 

Todoroki nodded shortly and Midoriya eyed him. Todoroki appeared a little tenser than usual and if it were anyone else they wouldn’t notice, but Deku had become quite fluent in Todoroki’s body language. He was nervous. 

Not wanting to press the issue in front of the others, Deku changed the topic to the latest hero fight and asked Iida about hero costume modifications, quickly distracting Ochako and Iida. Todoroki met Midoriya’s eyes a few seconds later and they held a small look of appreciation to which Deku only nodded, not drawing any more attention to it. When the group turned to leave the classroom Midoriya mouthed a quick, ‘we’ll talk later if you want,’ to Todoroki who gave a slight smile and nodded back. 

As the three made their way outside the building with their coats on now Momo waved to them, “Be careful it rained earlier and due to the cold temperatures the sidewalk is a bit slippery in places.” 

Deku smiled and nodded thankfully, “Will do, be sure to make it back safe.” 

Momo smiled in return and gave a short nod continuing her conversation with Tsuyu who she had made a blanket for on top of the coat the small frog girl wore. 

The group started their walk down the street back to the dorms. Deku had paid attention to the terrain for a while before growing bored with it and letting his mind wander. Which… was his first mistake. His second mistake was not hearing Todoroki warn him about the ice he was about to step on that had formed over the crack in the sidewalk. His foot slid and he lost his balance squeaking in surprise as he started to fall his arms flailing out to the sides as he tried to catch himself. 

Right before he could tho his backpack was lifted, the straps under his arms catching him before his body hit the ground. 

“Fucking watch where you are going, shit nerd. You were warned it was icy, moron.” 

Deku let out a sigh of relief at being caught and looked up at Bakugou to give him a smile, “Nice catch Kacchan.” 

Bakugou sighed and rolled his eyes looking away from Deku, “I know it was.” He muttered lifting Deku back up so the small boy could get his feet back underneath him ad stand up properly. 

“You alright?” Todoroki asked walking over to Deku who fixed his backpack straps on his shoulders and nodded. 

“Yeah I’m alright. Kacchan caught me.” Deku explained. 

Todoroki squinted at Bakugou, “Which is out of character if you ask me. Normally he would have let you fall and laughed.” 

“Hah? You trying to say something, candy cane bitch?” Bakugou snapped back his eyes narrowing at Todoroki, who nodded. 

“That’s typically why people speak Bakugou. So yes. I am trying to say something.” Todoroki stood up straighter and looked down at Bakugou with his two inches of height he had on him. Deku swallowed, not sure why the two were at each other's throats at the moment and moved to stand between them despite his nervousness. 

“H-hey guys…” He started but Bakugou snapped back at him. 

“Shut up Deku this doesn’t involve you.” 

Deku scowled and turned to face Bakugou, “Actually it does. I was only going to tell Todoroki to back off before you snapped at me. But you know what, you’re being rude and unnecessary. Knock it off Kacchan.” 

Todoroki smirked smugly at Bakugou before Deku turned to look at him in turn, “You too. Stop this.” 

Bakugou practically growled under his breath and turned away from the group. “Yeah that’s right Icy Hot. Listen to the nerd as you always do, like you’re his bitch or something.” 

Todoroki glared harder at Bakugou, stepping around Midoriya to get to him shoving Bakugou’s shoulders making the blonde stumble and slip a little on the ice before whipping around. 

“Don’t say that like it’s an insult.” Todoroki said through clenched teeth. Bakugou grinned evilly. 

“Say what? That you listen to everything little Deku says? Like you’re some kind of dog?” 

Todoroki moved towards him again and Bakugou caught his hands holding them out from his face where Todoroki had been going for. Todoroki ground his teeth together and let frost nip at Bakugou’s bareskin where he touched his right wrist. Bakugou winced but didn’t let go even as Todoroki turned up the cold. 

“You wanna get a detention? Expulsion?” Bakugou asked still glaring right back at Todoroki both of them ignoring Deku entirely at this point. 

Todoroki sighed and stopped his advances, ripping his hands away from Bakugou and stepping back. 

“Good choice. Because ain’t no way am I getting expelled over kicking your sorry ass.” Bakugou turned and walked down the sidewalk headed home trying not to let on that his wrist was frostbitten and aching with cold. 

Deku grabbed Todoroki’s arm and turned him to face him, “What the hell was that about?” He demanded scowling up at Todoroki who relaxed and let out a sigh. Midoriya continued angrily, “Look I understand you are stressed about this weekend and wound up but that doesn’t give you the right to pull this kind of thing. Kacchan was just being nice-” 

“Since when has he ever been nice?” Todoroki interrupted still having some adrenaline left over form before. Deku frowned at him. 

“Since he started changing. People can change Todoroki. The world isn’t black and white.” 

“You’re too good for him.” Todoroki stated bluntly making Deku drop his arm in surprise not sure how to respond to the comment. 

“No that’s… that’s not what this conversation is about. Kacchan is my friend no matter what he does or says. And you can’t go around picking fights because you’re stressed Todoroki.” 

The taller male simply nods, looking away from Midoriya, “Alright, you’re right. I apologize.” 

Deku was still frowning but he let go of Todoroki letting them walk again. The rest of the walk to the dorms was quiet, none of the group really sure what to say about what had happened. All Deku could think about though was the frost on Bakugou’s wrist. 

When they made it back he departed from the group making up an excuse and running up the steps to the floor Bakugou lived on and knocking on his door softly not sure if he would be there or not. There was a voice coming from the inside and Deku relaxed a little now knowing Bakugou was on the other side. The door flew open and Bakugou stared at him. 

“Here to lecture me now?” 

“No, here to see if you’re alright.” Deku stated. Bakugou blinked at him. 

“Of course I’m fucking alright.” 

Deku shook his head and pointed to the wrist in Bakugou’s hand, “You’re frost bitten.” He observed making Bakugou sigh. 

“And what about it?” He asked with a roll of his eyes. Midoriya blinked up at him and held his hand out palm up moving it towards Bakugou’s hands. The blonde sighed loudly making a show of it and set his injured wrist in Deku’s hand. 

“It’s cold!” 

Bakugou snorted, “Of course it is dumbass, it’s frosted over.” 

Deku sighed softly, “I know I just meant it’s colder than I was expecting. Here, let me in.”

Bakugou hesitated, the room behind him was dark and he had never let another person from U.A into his bubble. Deku saw the hesitation and opened his mouth to offer his room instead, but Bakugou grabbed his shoulder with his uninjured hand and pulled him inside quickly closing the door behind him and hitting the lights. 

Midoriya looked around, it was relatively plain and much cleaner than his own. The bedding was all shades of black and there was a small All Might throw pillow on the bed that stood out against the black which made Midoriya smile. Everything else in the room was remnants of things he remembered from Bakugou’s childhood bedroom from home. An old red desk lamp, his laptop covered in hero stickers, the laundry hamper he’s always had since they were little… 

“Hey this isn’t a zoo exhibit, you’re here with a purpose remember?” 

Deku snapped out of it at Bakugou’s voice, “Right, sorry. Do you have any towels we can get hot water with? Maybe two? One with normal room temperature water and another with slightly hotter water?” 

Bakugou sighed and let go of Deku’s shoulder grabbing two small towels from his dresser drawers and tossing them at Deku who nodded and left the room headed for the bathroom. He did as he suggested they should do and walked back quickly, not giving himself the chance to think about being in Bakugou’s room. When he returned Bakugou was sitting on the bed, “Finally, shit did you have to heat the water yourself?” 

Deku rolled his eyes, “Don’t be short with me I’m here to help.” He reminded the fiery blonde who only sighed loudly in response. 

Deku placed the slightly warm cloth over Bakugou’s wrist causing the other boy to hiss softly through his teeth at the feeling of his skin burning. His expression didn’t change though Deku noted, probably due to being used to a similar feel of burns. 

“I don’t know what got into him today.” Deku muttered softly causing Bakugou to scowl. 

“Who? Icy Hot?” 

“Yeah. He was on edge almost immediately when he saw you.” 

“Because he hates me, and he should I’m better than him. Bitch can’t take it.” 

Deku looked up from the wrist to its owner and scowled at him, “Will you stop with the podium already? I’m the only one here.” 

Bakugou glared at him and then nodded, “Right sorry. You want some fucking mushy heart to heart?” 

Deku rolled his eyes, “Forget I said anything. He’d probably be upset if I said anything more to you.” 

Bakugou hummed softly and Deku switched the cloths on his wrist to the hotter one. 

“So are you?” 

Deku looked up at him confused, “Huh?” 

Bakugou rolled his eyes, “Are you two together, like I implied.” 

“Oh… no. We’re not together.”

Bakugou nodded and pulled his hand away, “I think I can mange from here. I don’t need you nursing me and the last thing I need is for someone to see you leaving my room. So you’d better go.” 

Deku nodded and got up, “Alright. Still… sorry about your wrist.” 

“Ain’t your fucking fault.” Bakugou muttered. Midoriya left, softly closing the door behind him.

Todoroki’s room was his next stop and he had to admit he wasn’t particularly excited about it.


	5. Todoroki (Part 2)

Deku stopped outside Todoroki’s door and took a deep breath. Dealing with a riled up Bakugou was one thing. It was all anger and loud yelling usually. This was going to be different. Todoroki was silent when he was angry, and Deku didn’t know how to handle that. He stared at the details of the wood as he tried to summon up his nerves to finally knock on the door. He shouldn’t be this worried about it he knew. He knew Todoroki was stressed, he knew Todoroki had gotten caught up in the heat of the moment with Bakugou spurring it on and yet… 

Midoriya sighed loudly again, getting a grip finally he knocked softly on the door. Silence answered him and he stood there for a solid two minutes before summoning up the courage to speak, “Todoroki? It’s me. Please open the door?” 

He asked pressing a hand to the wood and waiting for a response. He didn’t get one, only a clicking sound as the deadbolt slid aside and he opened the door slowly, stepping into the room. Todoroki was standing there, changed out of his school uniform already, into a hoodie and some jeans,and blinked at Deku who paused forgetting the speech he had planned on the way to Todoroki’s room. He had already forgotten all his anger at Todoroki lashing out and something seemed different. He had been in Todoroki’s room before, had hung out with him alone before. Why was this time feeling so much different? 

“Are you okay?” He finally managed to choke out despite the heavy air surrounding them. Todoroki raised his eyebrows and nodded at him. Midoriya swallowed nervously and nodded looking around the room and not at Todoroki, “So what was that all really about then? I mean sure you and Kacchan never get along really but that was different. So do you want to explain yourself?” 

Midoriya’s eyes focused on the flooring that Todoroki had put into the dorm himself. A few more moments passed and then Todoroki sighed and moved to sit down on his bed as Midoriya set his backpack down finally after sliding it off his shoulders making a mental note to go back to his room to discard it and his uniform right after this before sitting down next to Todoroki.   
“I… wasn’t sure how to tell you this. But after further conversations with Ochako and Iida and what happened today I really suppose I don’t have much more of a choice.” 

The way Todoroki sounded put Midoriya on edge entirely, “Go on I’m listening.”   
Todoroki nodded and looked directly at Deku cutting straight to the chase as always.

“I have feelings for you.” 

Midoriya sucked in a deep breath immediate feeling his face heat up. 

“You…. what?” He asked feeling his eyes go wide as he stared at his friend. He ran through several situations in his head and the only logical ones he had cooked up were the Todoroki sitting before him had been affected by a quirk or Todoroki did honestly have feelings for him. The longer they sat there the more tense the air in the room became until Todoroki spoke again. 

“That is why I snapped today. You… are always running around calling Bakugou his weird childhood pet name and lately you’ve been in his presence more and more and I have found myself on multiple occasions becoming uncomfortable with that wishing it was me. Jealous if you will.” 

Midoriya nodded numbly as it all started to make sense in a confusing way, “So that’s what pushed you over the edge today? You were already stressed out and then jealous on top of it? But you’re actually jealous of Kacchan?” 

Todoroki rolled his eyes and nodded, “That is what I said isn’t it?” 

Deku nodded again and looked down at his own hands, “Well why didn’t you say something sooner? If I’m being entirely honest I’m not sure how to respond or what to do with this new information.” 

“Well then don’t do anything with it. Now you just know.” 

Midoriya’s face was burning and he knew he must be a bright pink at this point if not a pure red. His eyes couldn’t move from Todoroki as he tried desperately to read his expression. Midoriya knew he wouldn’t be able to, especially with a conversation like this. He sighed and despite the deep coloring of his face, leaned forward more which drew all of Todoroki’s attention immediately. It always seemed in moments like this, where Deku wasn’t sure what to do, that his body moved before his mind. His hands reached up and touched the sides of Todoroki’s face and his strange thought he had the other night was confirmed. Todoroki’s skin on either side was slightly affected in temperature to his quirk the left feeling warm and soft under his finger tips while the right was just slightly chilled like Todoroki had just come in from the outdoors on a windy day. Deku didn’t take long to process that though because before he knew it he was leaning forward more and touching their lips together. 

It was small, just a touch. Deku’s chapped lips against Todoroki’s which were softer than Midoriya would have expected if he was being honest. Todoroki was stiff against him, tensed entirely like a coil ready to snap and his eyes were open but Deku didn’t care until about two seconds later when he pulled back. 

“I-” Deku started opening his mouth to speak, to apologize to say something. Todoroki just shook his head and leaned back in pressing his lips more firmly to Deku’s this time. Both of their eyes fell closed and Deku made a small noise he didn’t know he could make. Todoroki chuckled and then pulled back to look at him and Deku just stared wide eyed for a moment before lifting a hand up to cover his mouth as his eyes flew to focus on anything other than the slightly cocky expression Todoroki wore. 

“So what do we do now?” Deku asked still not looking at Todoroki who he knew would be smirking. 

“I don’t know you tell me. You’re the one who kissed me first.” 

Deku sighed and felt his face burn just a bit more if that were even possible. He was sure he resembled the color of his shoes at this point, “I… I don’t know Todoroki I … I did that on impulse. I … can I think it over tonight?” He asked softly. Todoroki’s smirk faded away and his expression softened. 

“Yeah, actually… why don’t you take the weekend I’m away to think it over. That way I have something to look forward to when I get back?” 

Deku nodded softly and looked back at him seeing the soft expression and relaxing almost entirely. It was hard for him not to feel comfortable in Todoroki’s presence and this was only becoming more prevalent to Deku. He slowly got up from sitting on the edge of Todoroki’s bed and slowly grabbed his backpack. 

“I hate to run. Especially right now but-” 

“You have a lot to think about and you are still wearing your uniform.” Todoroki finished. Deku nodded again and made his way to the door peaking back over his shoulder to give Todoroki a little wave before he walked into the hallway. As the door closed behind him he felt as if his brain should be running a million miles an hour. He should be confused and stuttering and running over a million possibilities and end results of this whole situation. Only he wasn’t. He was completely quiet. His mind was silent. As if Todoroki has sucked all the excessive thought processes and mumbling right out of him. Deku was pretty sure at this moment that he had. 

He wandered down the hallways to his room, hearing Mina and Kaminari yelling loudly in the stairwell. He chuckled a little when he heard Mina swear loudly and rolled his eyes a bit. He needed to process things, which meant he needed someone to talk to. But who? Todoroki had already talked to Ochako and Iida, so it felt wrong to further involve them in whatever it was that was unfolding in Midoriya’s life. Bakugou was completely out of the question though Deku wasn’t sure why he even popped into his head in the first place. All Might definitely wasn’t the person to ask, was he? No… maybe not about this. 

“Shinsou.” Deku finally muttered having come to a conclusion. He stepped into his own room finally and tossed his backpack onto the desk chair as he quickly changed out of his uniform and then dug for his phone. He knew Shinsou liked his privacy so knocking on his door wasn’t really an option Deku was comfortable with. His fingers flew across the cold screen of his phone as he sent a text. 

-“You busy??”-  
At first there was no response and Midoriya sighed running a hand through his hair. He shouldn’t have assumed Shinsou would have a minute, he was so dedicated in becoming a hero and bettering himself as if he had something to keep proving despite making it into 1-A, why wouldn’t he be busy. 

A loud ding sounded and Midoriya’s attention shot to the phone still in his hands. 

-“No, Why.”-

Midoriya relaxed immediately and began telling everything of this afternoon's events starting from the last time Shinsou saw him which was right after the final bell had rung at the school. When Midoriya had sent the final text the small bubble meaning Shinsou was typing appeared and Deku waited a painful amount of time for the response before his eyes traced over it at least three times trying to process it. 

-“Why not then? Why not Todoroki?”- 

Deku sighed, Shinsou had a point. But if he was hesitating there must be a reason, and it being a gay relationship wasn’t what Deku was worried about and Shinsou knew it too. There had been many late night texting conversations about it and that part was no longer something Deku worried about at all. But why not Todoroki? That was the question then wasn’t it? If Deku was alright with this kind of relationship, then Todoroki was the question not the situation. 

Midoriya mulled over it in his head. He had caught himself staring at Todoroki far too often to write it off as a lack of attraction. Todoroki was incredibly attractive and Deku was well aware of that fact. So attraction wasn’t an issue. 

-“Maybe I’m just nervous about like messing things up?”- 

The typing bubble was back and then it went away with not text response which made Midoriya sigh as he distracted himself by staring at his All Might posters. 

-“You have all weekend to think about it fanboy, no point in losing sleep over it tonight.”- 

-“Ah… you’re right. Thank you Shinsou”- 

-“Anytime.”-

 

 

The test had been relatively easy, as far as Midoriya was concerned. It was just a general test of things they had been talking about in class. Kaminari on the other hand looked like he wanted to die which was only slightly amusing if Deku wasn’t concerned for Kaminari’s well being. If Deku was being honest he was grateful he remembered everything because he had Todoroki on his mind and he kept glancing over to him, especially since he had finished his test already and had turned it in. Todoroki had caught him doing it twice and had simply blinked back in response and turned back to his test like nothing had happened. Deku supposed he was grateful for it, for the acting like nothing had happened, but a part of him wished there was a little more reaction when Todoroki caught him staring so Deku could gage how he was feeling. He knew that was hopeless though, Todoroki had other things to be worrying about at the moment, especially since it was Friday and tonight he would be making his way home for the weekend leaving Deku to sort out his own issues in his absence. 

“I can practically fucking hear you thinking, will you calm the fuck down?” Bakugou snapped turning around in his chair which earned him a glare from Aizawa that made Bakugou whip back around immediately shutting up. Deku muttered a quick sorry for getting Bakugou into trouble to which Kacchan had just grunted. 

Midoriya quickly found himself wanting to ask Kacchan. Wanting to run the events of yesterday in Todoroki’s room by him, to ask him his opinion even though he knew Bakugou and Todoroki never got along. Why he wanted to ask Bakugou who he knew would respond disinterested and angry Deku didn’t know. He supposed he could write it of as knowing Bakugou forever and wanting his opinion because as much as he denied it Bakugou knew enough about Deku that maybe he could understand the confusion where Midoriya couldn’t. 

He stared at the back of Bakugou’s head as he thought it over and then remembered what Todoroki had said yesterday about getting jealous. He looked away from the back of Bakugou’s head. If he was going to seriously contemplate this he needed to remain hyper aware of Todoroki’s feelings for the moment. He left as if he had caused his friend enough grief already. When about half of the class was finished with the test Aizawa announced that those who had completed it could move on to the next subject of the day which was more quirk training. 

Bakugou, Todoroki, Deku, Iida, Momo, Tsuyu, Jirou, Hagakure, Kirishima, and Ojirou got up and excited the room headed for the locker room to change into their gym uniforms that they hadn’t had to wear in a while. To his right Iida and Todoroki were talking in their usual tones about the test and how they thought they had fared. Midoriya couldn’t bring himself to engage in their conversation like he normally would though. His brain felt clogged and cluttered with the information of the things that had happened yesterday and just the idea of Todoroki at the moment made his brain ache with the sheer confusion of the whole mess. He couldn’t wait to just blow off some steam with training. 

“What? Hey of course I passed the test shitty hair fuck you.” 

Bakugou’s voice snapped Midoriya out of his thoughts and he turned to look at the taller blonde who was to the other side of Midoriya a few paces down the way. Kirishima was snickering, like he knew exactly what he was doing to get Bakugou riled up slightly. Sure Kacchan wasn’t yelling loudly, he just always talked loud as a default. Deku often found himself wondering if it were a side effect from all the massive explosions he set off so close to himself. 

“Oi Deku. Quit looking at me. What’s your fucking deal today?” Bakugou snapped making Midoriya jump. When had Bakugou turned to look at him? Had he really zoned out so hard at the other? 

Deku gave a small shake of his head and mumbled a quick apology, going back to changing and zipping up the jacket part of the uniform before closing his locker to put his shoes back on. Bakugou didn’t say anything to Deku’s apology sensing that something was off but not asking what or why he was acting so strangely. That was something for a time when there were less people around, especially Kirishima who would start asking questions. He made a mental note to ask what the hell was going on with him later. Right now they had work to do.


End file.
